1. Twitter cannot be explained.

You really do have to learn by doing. I’ve looked at George’s Twitter account I don’t even know how many times and thought, “I don’t get it”. Now, I’m on Twitter, and I get it. I think it’s depleting my ability to focus for more than 45 seconds every time I log on but at least now I understand. So, if you’ve been putting off “doing Twitter” because you don’t get it, just go ahead and dive in. There are no Twitter police. No one’s going to yell at you for doing it wrong. Sign up, get an account and follow me. Then give me a shout, and I’ll follow you back. That’s the hard part. It gets easier from there.

2. There are people I won’t follow.

People who don’t have any tweets. People who write every tweet in a language other than English (no prejudice here, I just can’t follow you if I can’t read what you’re saying). People who regularly use language that will be a problem if my children are reading my Twitter stream over my shoulder, even though they’re not supposed to do that because it’s rude. If I go to look at your page to decide whether to follow you, and it looks like the script of a Quentin Tarantino film, I’m probably not going to follow you. People who refer to themselves as a “visionary”— no real reason. It just bugs me.

3. A quick method I use to determine who I’m going to follow.

When someone follows me, and I get an email saying that someone new is following me, I go to their profile and scan their tweet stream. If I get to the bottom of the page, and I’m not offended, that’s a good sign. But if I get to the bottom of the page and don’t see one thing I’d be interested in retweeting, that’s a bad sign. So, this is a lesson you can use to help you determine who to follow. It’s also a lesson in being someone that other people want to follow— be interesting. Or at least retweet people who are.

4. Hootsuite is my friend.

Hootsuite has been really helpful in being able to scan what’s going on with my Twitter account. There are a few things I don’t really care for. And I really need to do a bit more diving in. But, overall, it’s a necessary tool for me to be successful with Twitter.

So, that’s it. That’s what I’ve learned. For the most part. Any of you out there new to Twitter? Struggling with Twitter? Do you have Twitter questions? As we’ve established, I’m no expert. But if you leave a question in the comments, I’ll do my best to find the answer. And the most important question— have you followed me yet?

There are many different ways to build links but one of the most popular is by using services that help you do it. They come in various forms but typically what they do is distribute content (articles) that you write to numerous directories, blogs, web 2.0 properties, and other websites. They can work really well as a part of your overall backlinking strategy.

Here are 5 of the most popular of these link building services for you to consider:

1) Free Traffic System – I put this one first because it is completely free, easy to use, and works surprisingly well. It’s certainly not the best service of its kind but it does work, and you can’t beat the price. It’s definitely worth trying out.

2) Unique Article Wizard – This is one of the most well-known of all the link building (article marketing) services. It is also widely regarded as one of the best. You get a lot of link volume with UAW so you need to be careful not to overdo it.

3) Linxboss – It takes the least amount of work out of all the services on this list. You don’t have to write or spin any articles like you do with the others. All you do is plug in your link information and the system takes care of the rest. It’s relatively expensive and you don’t get a ton of links, but it can be very useful and you don’t have to spend any extra time writing.

4) Backlink Solutions – Here is one that’s balanced between the others as far as price, effort, and usefulness are concerned. They were one of the first link building services of this type and they’ve had their ups and downs, but have remained a solid choice. However, they aren’t accepting new members right now, so you have to join their waiting list if you want to use them in the future.

5) Linkvana – This one probably requires the most time/effort and it’s the most expensive, but it can work really well. They used to be THE place to go for this type of link building service but many others have caught up and even surpassed them. It’s still one of the best but not nearly as highly recommended as it once was.

Using any or all of these services should help your search engines rankings if you use them wisely and correctly. Don’t go blasting a million links to a new site from every service you can find. Doing things like that can often times do more harm than good.

I should also point out that you don’t necessarily need to use any type of service to help you build backlinks and you shouldn’t rely solely on them if you do use them. You can do it all yourself without spending any money and you should spread your links out among many different strategies. There are plenty of free ways to do it. However, using a service on the list above can certainly help quite a bit and make things a lot easier on you.

Alright, that’s it. Get going on your link building in one way or another right now. Your website traffic stats and bank account will thank you!

There are many different ways to build links but one of the most popular is by using services that help you do it. They come in various forms but typically what they do is distribute content (articles) that you write to numerous directories, blogs, web 2.0 properties, and other websites. They can work really well as a part of your overall backlinking strategy.

Here are 5 of the most popular of these link building services for you to consider:

1) Free Traffic System – I put this one first because it is completely free, easy to use, and works surprisingly well. It’s certainly not the best service of its kind but it does work, and you can’t beat the price. It’s definitely worth trying out.

2) Unique Article Wizard – This is one of the most well-known of all the link building (article marketing) services. It is also widely regarded as one of the best. You get a lot of link volume with UAW so you need to be careful not to overdo it.

3) Linxboss – It takes the least amount of work out of all the services on this list. You don’t have to write or spin any articles like you do with the others. All you do is plug in your link information and the system takes care of the rest. It’s relatively expensive and you don’t get a ton of links, but it can be very useful and you don’t have to spend any extra time writing.

4) Backlink Solutions – Here is one that’s balanced between the others as far as price, effort, and usefulness are concerned. They were one of the first link building services of this type and they’ve had their ups and downs, but have remained a solid choice. However, they aren’t accepting new members right now, so you have to join their waiting list if you want to use them in the future.

5) Linkvana – This one probably requires the most time/effort and it’s the most expensive, but it can work really well. They used to be THE place to go for this type of link building service but many others have caught up and even surpassed them. It’s still one of the best but not nearly as highly recommended as it once was.

Using any or all of these services should help your search engines rankings if you use them wisely and correctly. Don’t go blasting a million links to a new site from every service you can find. Doing things like that can often times do more harm than good.

I should also point out that you don’t necessarily need to use any type of service to help you build backlinks and you shouldn’t rely solely on them if you do use them. You can do it all yourself without spending any money and you should spread your links out among many different strategies. There are plenty of free ways to do it. However, using a service on the list above can certainly help quite a bit and make things a lot easier on you.

Alright, that’s it. Get going on your link building in one way or another right now. Your website traffic stats and bank account will thank you!

What do you think? At what point does a blog become a business and have to pay the required fees?

I didn’t want to. It was lame. I didn’t need it. Why should I? Then I joined about 18 months ago. How did I ever live without Facebook? And now I think that any business without a Facebook page is missing out on a monumental opportunity! Do you also want Google to exclude you from the search results?

I still don’t use Twitter a lot. Oh, sure I feed our Facebook page to it, but I leave most of the interacting to George. However, that will probably come to an end sometime in the next couple of months. Once I get a firm grasp on Linked In and Four Square— I need those for particular clients. But Twitter’s next.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to know it’s not too late. If you don’t yet have a Twitter or a Facebook account, it’s okay. You haven’t missed the social media parade. In fact, it’s really just getting started.

For businesses, it’s often not that beneficial to be an early adopter. The best time for businesses to adopt a technology is around it’s peak. It’s usually easier (and cheaper) to get training at that point. Your clients and potential customers are already informed about the technology, so you don’t have to convince them that they should WANT to “like” you on Facebook. And there are plenty of people who are already knowledgeable to whom you can outsource the parts of social media that you don’t like or don’t have time to keep up with.

So, if you’ve been avoiding social media, you don’t have to continue to do so. There are some very simple and very effective ways to use Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Linked In and more that will help you make money online and won’t keep you from actually running your business. I’ll be introducing some simple tips and tricks over the coming weeks and months. So, make sure to check back often. But for right now, go sign up for Facebook and Twitter— and throw in LinkedIn while you’re at it. Leave a note down below if you’ve signed up recently, or if you don’t yet have an account and let me know what was/is holding you back.

Anyway, last July I started doing this “online thing” full time.

I know you might wondering:

So how has that worked out for you?

Have you replaced your nice regular paycheck at HP yet?

Well, yes I have!

Well actually it’s “yes we have”!

My wife Jill and I are running a web design and web marketing company, and we have fully replaced my salary. Now, mind you it’s a lot of work. We both put in about 30 hours of work every week, which amounts to a total of 60 hours a week between the two of us. So it’s not a cake walk by any means.

Right now, Jill handles most of the sales and networking, as well as managing our web design contractors and most of our web design client interaction. If that wasn’t enough, she’s busy becoming our social media expert. I’m in charge of the SEO, PPC, Internet marketing plans, managing our Internet marketing contractors, handling the business operations and the client interactions for our marketing clients. We do quite a bit of overlapping work when it comes to interacting with clients, acquiring joint venture partners and building relationships. It’s been working out really well for us, and the future is looking pretty amazing.

So, yes we have been able to make money online and so can you! In the coming months I will talk a lot more about some of the factors that have helped us build a successful business.

Before I Go!

Before I leave, I just wanted to say that I really do want to help you succeed, BUT everyday I get questions from people wanting FREE advice, and neither my wife or I have the time to answer everyone’s questions personally. If I answered every question I got I would have no time to run a business and no time to spend with my family. So, please don’t be offended if you email us and don’t get an answer in response.

We DO answer many questions posted in the comments in response to a post. We’ll also sometimes answer particularly unique questions in a blog post. And, of course, the content we create for this site is free. But if you have a pressing need for our expertise and want our personalized help in building your business, you can hire us for phone or in person consulting or training. Phone consulting is currently $200/hour (as of August, 2010), but we can help you save hours of looking for an answer online and trying to figure out things on your own.

If you’re anything like my wife, you’re probably thinking “Whoa, Nelly! $200 for the ‘privilege’ of speaking to one of the Mantys for an hour?” Let me explain how the process works. When you contact us to set up a phone consultation, you’ll send us 4-5 questions that can be answered in an hour (ranking them in order of importance, in case time runs out). We’ll then research the answers to your questions— we don’t charge you for that time. So, your “one hour” phone consultation may, in reality, take as many as four or five hours of our time.

Of course, if you have a business and are considering hiring us to design a website or for marketing services, we provide a one hour free consultation. However, that isn’t designed to be a time to answer all of your questions. It’s primarily a time where we can assess how we can best help you and which of our services are likely to benefit you the most. While you may get some useful hints and information out of it, if you want to “do it yourself” and just need direction, you’re much better off paying for a phone consult.

Anyway, we look forward to helping you succeed online and if you would like to see us build a step by step program on making a living online or any other type of program let us know in the comments below.

Too many people think that making money online is easy or that they are going to get rich just by signing up for some program or buying an ebook. I can’t really blame them most of the time because that’s what they are led to believe by shady marketers and flat out scammers. But the truth is actually the complete opposite… It’s very difficult to make a living online!

Sure, you might be able to earn a little money without a lot of effort. But if you are looking to actually build a full-time income on the internet then you better be ready to do a lot of learning, a lot of hard work, and spend a lot of time before you get there. Having some money to invest into your online business will be very helpful as well. If it were easy then everyone would do it and nobody would have any money problems. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way. So, you can’t go into it with the attitude of getting rich quickly or easily. It’s not going to happen!

What it really comes down is your money making mindset. If you truly believe you will succeed, and you are more than willing to put in the time and effort needed, and get up from all failures, you will be able to make a living online. Know that you will have to work hard to get there but it can be done. Nothing can stop you if completely you believe in yourself and never give up!

One of the absolute best ways to market your website and increase your search engine rankings is through guest blogging. Every time you get a guest post published you are getting high quality backlinks to help push your site up the search engines as well as targeted traffic directly from the post itself. In addition to that, you are doing a form of networking with other bloggers in your niche which helps tremendously in building a name for yourself and getting your foot in the door for future partnerships.

There are many internet marketers who have built incredibly successful sites with high rankings, lots of traffic, thousands of subscribers, and great monthly earnings almost exclusively from guest blogging. It really can be that powerful if done correctly.

How do you do it? Simple…

You just seek out blogs in the same niche as yours (and similar niches) and check to see if they accept guest posts. Often times it will be obvious if they do because they will have a very visible link to a page explaining their guest blogging rules and how to send the posts. Other times it won’t be so obvious so you might have to dig around to see if they accept guest posts or contact the owner to ask if they will. Make your message very personal to show you are sincere and actually checked out their blog before contacting them. If it’s a spammy message or obvious that you sent it in bulk, you will certainly get rejected.

A large percentage of bloggers will accept guest posts if you contact them about it, even if they hadn’t thought of it before or don’t make it obvious that they do. They are getting free original content without doing any work or spending any money for it, so it benefits them to accept. But many won’t for whatever reason so you should expect some rejection. If they don’t then just thank them for their time and move on.

When you do find blogs to write for then be sure to write very high quality posts that the owners are likely to publish and their visitors want to read. Become very familiar with each individual blog. Look at what type of content they have on it and their style of writing, so you are sure to write something that fits well with their blog. Match the quality of their content or even go above it to ensure you are up to their standards and set yourself apart from other bloggers who are also sending them posts.

Don’t forget to proofread your post several times and put it through a spelling/grammar checker before sending it. The last thing anyone wants on their blog is a post full of mistakes so that is a sure way to get your posts rejected.

Another very important thing to remember is to only send them 100% original content written by you and not published anywhere else. This is vital to being successful with guest blogging! Nobody wants content sent to them that is copied or posted elsewhere. I can almost guarantee you they will check so don’t try to slip anything by them either.

Guest blogging is great way to market your website and it benefits both parties. The blog owner gets excellent content for free and you get more exposure for your site. I highly recommend you use it as a part of your internet marketing strategy.

We look forward to providing you with great advice going forward.

As most of you know, about a year ago my wife, Jill, and I invested in the Local Business Money Machine program. Since then, we’ve built a successful business utilizing that system. We’ve posted about the system before, and we still think it’s a good one, but one of the weaknesses we’ve pointed out is that we think it’s not an ideal match for absolute beginners.

Now there’s a new system that looks similar to the Local Business Money Machine with some noticeable differences that will make this program so much easier for those who are true beginners. Check out the first videos by clicking here:

http://www.mainstreetmarketingmachines.com/cmd.php?af=32477

Many of the materials are ones that we would utilize and that we may have to create ourselves eventually, so we think that any cost up to $5000 will pay for itself. While we’re not 100% sure yet whether we will be signing up (we are at about 99%), we are absolutely sure that anyone who is interested in starting a business helping market local businesses should consider this program. And if you’re already running this type of business, you should check out the materials in the program to see if this would complement your current business plans. You’ve got nothing to lose by checking out the following free video, so head over there right now.



http://www.mainstreetmarketingmachines.com/cmd.php?af=32477

If we do sign up tomorrow, as I’m currently planning to do, I’ll take a quick look at what’s included and give you a thumbs up/thumbs down report, hopefully before the program closes.

MY BONUS:

If you sign up using my affiliate link above then send me an email of your receipt and once I have verified that you purchased through my link I will contact you to set up a one hour phone consultation with Jill and/or I to answer any of your questions after you have used the program for at least 30 days. Also, I will follow that call up with an email to check on your progress.

Note: Some of the links above are affiliate links and I will make money if you buy from them.

UPDATE:

I just bought the Main Street Marketing Machines program. It should take me about week to test it out. If it looks like the doors are closing sooner then I will try to get a post out about what I think so far and will leave occasional comments on this post about it.

PS. Be sure to use my affiliate link for my Main Street Marketing Bonus.

Well…

I have really enjoyed writing on this blog over the years. More than that, I have enjoyed all the friends and relationships I have built up over that time as a result of this blog.

However, it’s time for me to take a break from this blog. I considered many options that would keep this blog running smoothly without my interaction, but after a lot of thought and prayer I decided it was time for the blog to go on hiatus. If I decide to start it back up again, it will be a VERY different blog and by different I mean unique. But before I get to that I want to let you know some of the reasoning that went behind this decision…

Focus

My business success really turned around when my friend Austin Davis (of My Honest Mechanic) told me “You have to focus!” Austin is an extremely successful affiliate marketer who focuses on one niche and dominates it. He told me the secret to his success is focusing on that one niche and being the best in that niche.

Lately, I have been mostly focused on building our web design and web marketing business. We have had a lot of success due in large part to our focus on Mantyweb Designs and nothing else. However, with most of my focus on the web design business I just can’t put in enough effort to make this blog what I ultimately want it to be.

I strongly believe that focusing 100% of my efforts on Mantyweb Designs will pay off in a big way. While I did consider having someone else take over the day to day tasks of running this blog, it would still require some of my attention, which would have taken focus off my new business.

The Two Tribes

If you haven’t read Brian Clark’s post about the two tribes you should go do that now by clicking here and then come back to finish this post. The two tribes post on CopyBlogger is one of the best blog posts (if not the best blog post) that I read last year.

In the post, Brian talks about the two tribes in Internet marketing. I have struggled trying to placate members of the “cool kids” tribe, while knowing that the only way to make real money online was to do more of what the “internet marketing” tribe says to do. The truth of the matter is that I am not comfortable with EITHER tribe. I have tried finding a balance between the two, and it’s not easy. Some of my friends fall into one tribe or the other. There are some Internet marketers like Brian Clark and Michel Fortin who have managed to walk the tight rope that is the middle tribe (something Brian is now calling the “Third Tribe”), but it’s a very tricky path. You have to be careful not to swing too far in either direction. To quote Brian:

I wonder, though, if there’s any possible way a tribe could come together that was about building real businesses online without being cheesy, sleazy, or tacky? Could a tribe form around ethical business practices, effective persuasive communication that actually sells something, respectful relationships with customers, and a commitment to keeping the White Hat on at all times?

That’s what I have been trying to do and if I ever take this blog off of a hiatus, being part of the third tribe will be one of it’s primary goals. (Note, a few days after I wrote my initial draft of this message, I got a message about joining the “Third Tribe” membership site and have done so, although I have not had the time to see whether it is worthwhile or not).

Providing Value

I can’t provide you enough value right now, because I am focusing every spare minute on providing our clients value above and beyond their expectations. Which is one of the reasons I have to focus on our new business.

Where can you find me now?

Our blog:

http://mantywebdesigns.com/blog/

My wife Jill and I write about many of the same topics that would come up on this blog on our new blog. The focus is more on small business owners, but in my opinion if you are trying to make money online, you need to consider yourself a small business owner. In other words, our new blog is perfect for you. Click here to check it out.

My Newsletter

I will continue to give occasional tips on my newsletter and let you know when any good, ethical products come along. I won’t be promoting anything that I believe will be a waste of your money (in other words, I won’t be promoting a lot of stuff).

What would I do if I reopened the blog?

6-12 months down the road I may revisit the situation. If I do ever open this blog up again it will be for the right reasons. If I do re-open the blog it’s focus will be on making money online without compromising your values. It will also likely have an interesting twist and it is likely that I won’t be the main writer for the blog. The main thing is that I won’t re-open this blog unless I believe that I can bring a unique perspective to the make money online world. I do have a plan that I feel would do that, but it’s not the right time for me to be doing anything else other than growing my internet marketing and web design company.

Blessings to all of you,

George Manty

http://winterolympicsnews.com/

They are both excellent writers, so if you are interested in a unique take on this year’s Olympic Games then click here to check them out.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I have a couple of important announcements to make in the next week or two. One of which is about the future of this blog… so stay tuned!

Here are the steps to take in order to make money from this method:

1) Buy a domain that already has existing PageRank (PR).

There are plenty of places to buy domains for cheap that already have PR so this step is not nearly as difficult as it may sound at first. A good place to find them quickly and very low cost is the digitalpoint forums domain sales section. But you can also get them at sitepoint, sedo, the domain name aftermarket, and many other places.

The important things are that it has valid PR and is either generic enough to be used with any type of content or is niche specific so you can just put that type of content on it. I also wouldn’t buy one that didn’t at least have a PR3 unless it was a perfect domain in every other way. This is because you can get them for relatively cheap and the higher the PR the more value it will have in the eyes of potential buyers.

2) Put a blog and some content up on the domain.

You need to put content up on the domain in the form of a static website or a blog. I recommend a blog because it will be easier to update and will be easier to sell. You will also be more likely to get a higher amount of money for a blog.

If the domain you bought is generic then do some research to figure out what niches are hot sellers right now and build the blog and content around that niche. All you have to do browse around flippa.com for a few minutes to figure that out. If the domain you bought is niche specific then you obviously will want to write content based on that particular niche.

I recommend writing at least 10 high quality posts or pages of content. Put some time and thought into the writing because it will help a lot when you flip it. You’ll probably need to do some quick research online to figure out what topics on the niche to write about.

3) Do some marketing.

Since you bought an aged domain with existing PR it should already have some backlinks and maybe even some traffic coming to it. You don’t want to spend much time or any money marketing it because the point of this is to flip it and make money with the least amount of effort as possible. However, it will only help if you do some marketing. You could do a run of bookmarking it on several social sites and submit a few articles to directories with links pointing to it. Both of those are free and can be done pretty quickly.

4) Flip for profit.

Now it’s time to flip it to make money. Head over to flippa.com or another site selling marketplace and put it up for auction. I recommend keeping it for a couple months before you do this though. But make sure you continue building them during that time so you always have some ready to flip after the initial waiting period is up.

Some people will call this site flipping and others will call it domain flipping, I don’t really consider it to be either one but more of a combination of the two. Whatever you want to call it just know that it’s a great way to make money without spending too much time or effort to do so.

Trent Brownrigg is an internet marketing business expert and the owner of a top home based business blog.

If you want to see our review of the program check it out by clicking here. We will still offer you the same bonus if you sign up through our affiliate link.

If you buy the program, we’d like to help you use the program successfully. We’re offering you a Quick Start Blueprint— the parts of the program that we felt were the most critical for getting started, including our most successful networking tips and the tools (both paid and free) that we’ve found the most useful. And when you finish those trainings and have had a chance to get your feet wet, we’ll give you a 60 minute phone consultation at the end of your first month where you can ask any questions you may have.

To get our bonus for the Local Business Money Machine follow the steps below:

1. Click here on our affiliate link and sign up for their email list. Then when it opens sign up for the program (before it closes).

2. Email your receipt for the program to us at info @ mantywebdesigns.com with the subject line “Make Money Online Blueprint”.

3. After we have verified your sign up using our affiliate link then we will contact you about the blueprint.

4. After you have been in the program for 30 days and are ready to ask us questions, set up your free phone consultation.

And yes, Daniel is a friend, and yes that is an affiliate link and I do get paid if you click on it and buy his product. That said, I honestly believe that Online Profits is a good, solid training program for those new to Internet marketing. Click here to check it out.

PS. Only 300 memberships are being sold, so don’t wait

5 Vote(s) ]]> http://www.imspike.com/Affiliate-Marketing/yet-another-chance-to-join-the-local-business-money-machine/ http://www.imspike.com/Affiliate-Marketing/yet-another-chance-to-join-the-local-business-money-machine/ Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:44:32 -0600 CanIMakeBigMoneyOnline Affiliate Marketing http://www.imspike.com/Affiliate-Marketing/yet-another-chance-to-join-the-local-business-money-machine/ In case you missed it the last several times that it opened up to new members, it looks like there will be another chance for you to sign up for the Local Business Money Machine.

If you want to see our review of the program check it out by clicking here. And, yes our local Internet marketing business is still doing very well.

We will still offer you the same bonus if you sign up through our affiliate link.

If you buy the program, we’d like to help you use the program successfully. We’re offering you a Quick Start Blueprint— the parts of the program that we felt were the most critical for getting started, including our most successful networking tips and the tools (both paid and free) that we’ve found the most useful. And when you finish those trainings and have had a chance to get your feet wet, we’ll give you a 60 minute phone consultation at the end of your first month where you can ask any questions you may have.

To get our bonus for the Local Business Money Machine follow the steps below:

1. Click here on our affiliate link and sign up for their email list. Then when it opens sign up for the program (before it closes).

2. Email your receipt for the program to us at info @ mantywebdesigns.com with the subject line “Make Money Online Blueprint”.

3. After we have verified your sign up using our affiliate link then we will contact you about the blueprint.

4. After you have been in the program for 30 days and are ready to ask us questions, set up your free phone consultation.

I realize that our new blog covers a lot of the same topics that I cover here. The main difference between the two blogs is that this blog is aimed more at individuals and that blog is aimed more at business owners. Due to the success of our business I am brainstorming ways to change Can I Make Big Money Online next year to fit into our business plans and at the same time offer more valuable content for you.

So, click here to check out our new blog and let us know what you think about it.

http://mantywebdesigns.com/blog/2010/01/great-example-of-viral-marketing/

So, what do you think? Can you do something like this online? If so, then what are you waiting for?

Daniel’s new ebook is called, “Ten Deadly Business Mistakes” and it’s both a very good and a pretty quick read. You can download it by clicking here and following the directions on his site.

Mistakes number 2 and 8 in his book are the biggest mistakes I have made in the past that really held back my business. Go read the ebook and let me know your biggest mistakes.



PS. Yes, Daniel is a friend, and yes most of the links in this post are my affiliate links that will pay me money if you sign up for his course.

All of the people I have known who have had a successful business online have committed to it. Many of them even quit their jobs before starting their business because they understood the importance of commitment. While I don’t recommend you leave your job, I do recommend that you commit yourself to making your business successful. Without commitment it will likely fail. Set some hard deadlines and stick to them.



2. Focus

I have talked about the importance of focus before (see this post). Until I focused on making money with one business (our web marketing and design business), success was elusive.

Now that my wife and I are running a successful business I don’t want to lose focus on that business or it might stop growing. Focus is one of the biggest factors in our success this year and it will continue to be one of the biggest factors in our ongoing success.

3. Time Management

Changing the way I managed my time has made a huge difference in my productivity. Now that I only check my email after I have completed 2 hours worth of important work, my productivity has greatly increased. I learned this and other techniques from various sources, including a very good book on the topic. If you are looking for great time management tips without spending a ton of money, I highly recommend the book, “Getting Things Done”, by David Allen. You can buy a copy at most bookstores or check it out for free at your local library.

One of the other things I did to improve my time management is to create a daily and weekly todo list. I manage the todo list with a very simple free online tool called Voo2Do. At the beginning of each week I create a new todo list with the highest priority items being done earliest in the week to make sure that they get done. In my case, that means that marketing tasks for our clients are done at the beginning of the week. You can also organize your days that way, with the highest priority items being done first and your less high priority items (like checking email) coming later in the day. I also leave some space towards the end of the week for those tasks that get bumped down the priority list by things that required immediate attention, like proposals for clients. Making good use of your time makes a big difference in your business success.

Now, there was a fourth factor that both Jill and I consider to be a bigger factor than any other factor… our belief in God. While everyone may not embrace this view, I do believe that prayer played an important role in our success.

Those were the three things that I did to have a successful 2009, what were the things you did to improve your business?

PS. This post was part of a my friend Daniel’s writing project (Daniel is one of those people I knew who quit his job before starting an online business). You can read all about his project by clicking here.

Summing it up is very simple. Magic wands are things you just wave around and POOF, instant results. They’re very entertaining…as fictional props in magic shows. In your way of thinking, not so much.

Generally speaking, the magic wand mentality can be defined with two erroneous points:

1.) There is some magical, but elusive, solution that will take you from nothing to prosperity in your online business.

2.) If you don’t know what that solution is, you can’t get anywhere.

This way of thinking serves to cause two hindrances as far as making money online goes. It makes you very susceptible to scams and people promising magic wands, and it keeps you from taking the real, but not so magical steps to make your business grow. In fact, you may get so frustrated looking for magic wands, you burn out and give up on it.

There is no magic wand to making money online. There are things that work, things that work best for you, and things that don’t. The trick is to find what works for you, perfect your technique with it, and then continue to work it until the cash starts to flow. From there, you just keep working it to make more money.

Resist the trap of believing that there is some magic way to suddenly have an online income. It will keep you out of trouble and prevent you from burning out over misspent efforts trying to find magic wands.

Seriously, how do you make a beautiful, sellable ebook? Find your answers today with The Ebook Walkthrough!



My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.

Today is a very straightforward post as these steps are really very simple in nature. In fact, this formula will help you tremendously in writing great copy while also helping it flow in a much more natural and sophisticated way.

I welcome you to the AIDA copywriting principle.

What does it stand for?

Step number one in writing effective copy is to capture or grab Attention.

This is where most people go wrong and why they wonder no one is purchasing their product or buying their service…they can’t grab attention to save their life. One of the quickest ways to grab attention is to create an effective headline. If your headline does not grab attention, the person landing on your page won’t read the rest of what’s on that page.

From there, keep building the attention with your sub-heads and your intro, which will then get us into the next step.

Step number two is generate Interest.

Once your prospect’s attention has been grabbed and is getting further into reading your copy, you generate interest in the product or service at hand. You talk about the benefits of this, how you used it and got this result, just speak in pure benefits of what it can help them do and how it can help them do it.

A lot of times people confuse generating interest with, “Oh ok, talk about all of it’s awesome features.” The problem is, your customers don’t buy features, well maybe if they’re some geek who’s obsessed with tech, but your customers buy benefits. They want to know how blank can get them blank result. You convey that through generating interest in the product or service.

Step number three is build Desire.

You originally grabbed their attention, built some interest and from that interest, there starts to form a wonderful connection: Desire. They start to see how it can help them, what it can help them do, and so on. The most successful copy does a great job of targeting key desires that people have and conveying that through their message.

Your customers purchase based on emotion and very rarely out of logic. It sounds crazy but it’s just how things work. Building this desire stirs up their emotions and they start connecting your product or service with how it can benefit them in fulfilling that desire.

Last but definitely not least, get them to take Action.

Every effective sales piece has a clear call to action. “Order Now!”, “Get Started Today!”, “Take Advantage Of This Amazing Opportunity!”, etc. If you’re not telling your potential customer what to do next, chances are they won’t do anything. A lot of times people are just afraid to ask for the sale. Don’t be. You’ve laid everything out on the line, they know what they’re getting, and they know the tremendous value of your product or service.

The next most logical piece is for them to take action and purchase. With a clear and precise call to action, you will increase the chances of them doing so.

BONUS: I remember learning a really cool tip from Internet Marketer Frank Kern of Mass Control fame (awesome course by the way) that he learned from famous copywriter John Carlton. It goes like this…

Here’s what I got…

Here’s what it can do for you…

Here’s what you need to do next…

Simple huh? And that’s another important thing to add: Don’t overcomplicate the copywriting process. As long as you follow a simple structure and put great effort into it, you’ll sell significantly better than what you may have in this past or were possibly going to do before having this knowledge.

How important do you think it is to write great copy and what do you think something like this could bring you in terms of increased conversion?

Mike Stenger is a full-time online business owner who has a strong passion in helping others get results. You can find him here at his video blog where he frequently talks about business and life success strategies.

So, if you read last week’s post, I talked about 3 Things You Must Know To Be Successful Online. If you missed it, head on over there because it’ll really get you ready for this week’s topic…Social Media baby!

By now, chances are you have a good idea of what Social Media is. Heck, last year it was called Web 2.0 and like Gary Vaynerchuck, the premier go to guy for Social Media branding says, “It’ll probably be called something different next year”.

In a nutshell, Social Media is just a fancy word for social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Friendfeed, etc., where you can engage and interact with your audience in a more personal and “social” way. It’s been around for several years now and frankly, it’s not going anywhere. I mean it when I say this and I can guarantee you that any business that doesn’t get into the new age of how business is done and continues to stick with the old school methods, is going to be toast.

Point blank, bottom line. There’s a lot of information out there on how to do Social Media right and then there’s people like me who love helping you profit from it. I’m extremely passionate about Social Media and over the course of reading up on a lot of different information, here’s what’s stuck the most…

If all you want to do is sell, you better change your mind…FAST! Social Media isn’t just about selling to and/or getting customers where they’re spending a lot of their time. It’s a lot more than that. It’s about getting into the conversation that’s happening and being there. Sometimes people need advice or help with this. Sometimes they need extra assurance before they purchase something. There’s a number of different possibilities and when you can engage and interact with them, they’ll look to you as a friend, an authority, someone they can trust over time.

If all you do is sell, you’ve already turned them off by just your first tweet or status update. Offer advice, be helpful, and sure, sell from time to time, but don’t stray from the fact that your customers want friends. And when you can be their friend and build that relationship with them, it’s hard telling how profitable it’ll become.

Post relevant, entertaining, and valuable information. You don’t speak politics to an infant, do you? Then find your niche or niches that you love, know about, and/or do work in, and post about that. There’s so many times where I’ve followed someone because I enjoyed their tweets about personal development and they start talking about this dirty scumbag politician. I guarantee you 98% of the people that pay attention to them could give a care less.

Now, there’s times where you post about other things, hopefully positive (Did I mention more than enough negativity can bite you in the butt?). That’s understandable and you should post here and there about other things because it gives people a better sense of your personality, a big factor in why people pay attention to you to begin with. However, when you get way off topic and stray far from your niche, it makes people start to change their minds.

Always stay true to your roots and make sure that you provide some sort of value in everything you post.

Transparency is the new disclosure. Most people can sniff out liars as well as a bloodhound can sniff out a criminal a mile away. Always be truthful and honest in your ventures and activities. There’s been so many people who could of got far in what they were doing but no, they decided to lie about things and worse of all, cover them up. Guess what happened? Things get exposed and when you get marked as a liar and someone who can’t be trusted, that sticks in people’s minds and is hard to get rid of.

By being transparent, you simply be who it is you are and just do you. You’re no one else. You’re not proclaiming yourself to be an expert, guru, master, or wizard. Let others decide who you are by your actions and what it is you bring to the table (jump back to valuable content). We’ve all heard the saying “The truth shall set you free” and it will. It’ll not only set you free but also help you build deeper relationships and make a lot more money in the long run.

Freelance Superstar is a step by step guide for newbie freelance writers or those existing entrepreneurs who currently struggle in their business. It is a labor of love and seasoned with plenty of hardship as everything I had to learn in order to run my own successful business is contained within. Basically, the Freelance Superstar guide will save you weeks of frustrations – guaranteed.

My early days:

When I first got started as a wannabe writer I had one thing going for me – passion to reach success once and for all or face another 20+ years in a job I absolutely hated. This drive was pushing me to work long hours and sacrifice many weekends in order to succeed.

In hindsight I have to say that every single tear I shed, every dollar I spent and every ‘not so lady-like word’ I ushered was worth it.

I got my first long term client while answering an online ad for a paid blogger job. By the time I saw it it had early been published 6 weeks and I figured ‘oh well, what have I got to lose by applying for it.’ So I did. Interestingly enough I got the job!

And guess who my first client was – yep, it is no other than my current partner in crime for the Freelance Superstar product – infamous online ‘guru’ Gobala Krishnan. Gobala employed me as a staff blogger on one of his sites which later lead to being the editor in charge on a couple of his blogs. Plus it also brought me several big name marketers as new clients.

The rest as they say is history – I wish.

My seven months journey to freedom and success:

From that very first job I landed with Gobala it took seven months for me to earn a full time income. Those seven months were perhaps the toughest ever for me because I spend hours online in order to brand my name and my business with my blog and social media. It was extremely time consuming but also very rewarding because by the time I quit my offline job for good (January 2008) I never had to look back.

In fact, from January 08 until March/April 09 I was fully booked at all times without having to seek one single client. You could call this the honeymoon period I guess. Life was perfect.

The suddenly I realized…

... that I had priced myself out of the market. When things started to slow down in those early months of 2009 I didn’t know yet that the GFC had already crowded my style. Only when I got an increased ‘lack of replies’ to my quotes I figured something was seriously wrong. My business was still rolling nicely but the cracks were slowly starting to show due to having bigger gaps in my schedule.

It was time to take action once again:

The first thing I did was to take down my rates and customize them for every single client. This has worked a treat for me ever since. Only later did I make the connection between this sudden loss of bookings and the global recession.

Luckily for me I did act on it immediately and only had to experience two slowish months.

I also realized that unless I got into the info product market I could keep writing forever and never achieve true time freedom. So I wrote Freelance Superstar to help newbies find their feet in the industry.

The supercharge formula:

A lot has happened since and while I normally never talk about my income I can proudly say that I had my first $700 day late last month. Naturally not all days are this crazy but my income has doubled from September to October this year already and things are looking good for the future.

My personal supercharge formula can be accredited to the power of outsourcing. Outsourcing is the way to go in this industry and I will talk about this in detail if you head over to my new site Writing Pod. That site is dedicated to take a freelance writing business to the next level and only my list subscribers will find out how I did this because it isn’t for the faint-hearted or the person scrambling for their last dollar.



What it takes to reach success in business:

If you want to be widely successful in your own business you need to be dedicated to your success. Expect late nights, weekend work, last minute orders from clients and a whole heap of time consuming tasks.

You also need to be passionate about what you do, otherwise it will never work out for you. The magic word is to take massive action day in and day out. Even after you reach acceptable success levels you have to keep on pushing. I’m happy to say though that it beats the alternatives for me every single day.

I LOVE my business, I LOVE my clients and best of all, I really LOVE my life. Do you have it within you to be the next Freelance Superstar?

In success

Monika Mundell

I don’t mean “change your mind”. I mean your mind has to change. Online business as a freelance entrepreneur is an example of thinking outside the box. Your personal “box” may take the form of…

• “I can’t make money in any way except a job.”



• “I’ve never tried anything like this before.”



• “I don’t know what I’m doing.”



• “This is a dumb idea.”

Maybe one or more of these apply to you, and these sorts of thoughts have to go. But before I repeat the cliche’ of “thinking outside the box”, how about a real-life example?

For a few months now, I’d been sick of turning on my television set with nothing ever being on, especially given what I paid for cable. Several hundred channels of programming, and it was all miserable. So, I did something that most people wouldn’t even consider: I canceled cable without replacing it. I no longer receive television of any sort.

Now, television tends to be a household staple even if it’s pointless. So this would be my own personal example of “thinking outside the box”. I’m saving a boatload of money, and it’s not as though I’m without distraction or entertainment with cable gone. In other words, net gain for me.

It was a benefit to me to do something most people would not consider, or at least not consider seriously. Online business is the same way. It’s a world of opportunity waiting that most would not even give thought, but it could wind up benefiting you greatly. This is what I mean when I say “First, your mind has to change”. If you don’t seriously believe you can make money online, you’re not going to get anywhere attempting it.

Seriously, how do you make a beautiful, sellable ebook? Find your answers today with The Ebook Walkthrough!



My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.

What I’ve down is outlined below some quick yet simple things that you can do to become more successful in your daily online efforts. Now, I’m not saying these are easy, in fact anything you do online or offline for that matter, is going to take some effort.

So with knowing that, let’s get to the 3 things that you must know to be successful online…

#1: Just Be You

This is a very big mistake I see, especially in the online world. People pretend they’re someone who they’re not and expect to make all this money and be uberly successful. It doesn’t work that way…

Sometimes it leads to people claiming “guru” or “expert” status, claiming that you know more and do better than you actually do, and in some unfortunate cases, posing as a famous internet marketer or business person and trying to cash in on their credibility.

Look: You may not be the greatest, most knowledgeable, absolutely amazing person in the world and none of that matters. People want to see you and your personality. Keep learning and educating yourself while taking consistent action, what REALLY gets you results, and never stray from who you really are, deep down inside, past all the materialistic things.

Others will appreciate that and it will allow them to create a stronger bond with you, and a much deeper relationship if you just be you.

#2: Give Great Value Or Go On Home

By value, I mean content. Chances are you may have a blog and if you don’t, get one as soon as possible. Blogs are really an extension of who we are and what we’re all about. We live in a society where people want information and it’s this information that is at the premier front of the gate. When people see how valuable something is, it grabs their attention. When they are attentive, they build an interest and a desire which leads to subscribers, followers, or even customers.

The great part is, you don’t even have to setup an extravagant blog that’s totally customized. As long as the content is good, you’re already making some significant leaps in your day-to-day online business. As well, if you have other websites, focus on giving out free ebooks, reports, case studies, etc.

Moving the freeline as some like to call it, has been proven highly effective for quite some time now. People respond well to it and it’s a great way to build some serious and massive value that shows others a little about who you are. Here’s the kicker…

When people see how valuable your FREE content is, they think to themselves, “Wow! If his/her free is this good, I can’t imagine how good their products or services are!”.

And guess what happens when they find out that you’re selling something or providing a service? They remember how much value you gave them beforehand so they’re influenced to snatch up your product or get your service.

#3: Content Is King But Relationships Are Queen

In this space, you always hear about how content is king. For starters, it is extremely important to your overall success, but it’s not all. Many times I see aspiring business owners throw up some sites, push out a bunch of content, and then wonder why no one is listening. It’s because A) They haven’t talked to enough people or B) They haven’t talked with enough people.

Relationships are very important to your overall success. To be honest, I wouldn’t go so far to say that it’s one of the most important things to your success, aside from having and giving value. With the creation of social media and sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, it’s easier than ever to build relationships with people.

You should be building some sort of relationships through your sites or blogs, and by engaging and interacting with others using social media, you take relationship building to a whole other level.

Stay tuned for the next post where I dive into where we left off and talk about using social media in the most effective way possible.

Mike Stenger is a full-time online business owner who has a strong passion in helping others get results. You can find him here at his video blog where he frequently talks about business and life success strategies.

For those who are planning on buying Jeff’s new product then you should check out our Product Launch Manger bonus offer.

We are offering a special bonus for anyone that buys through our affiliate link. We have spent a lot of time learning how to get local business owners as clients and we can help you do the same. So, we will be creating a “Quick tips on getting local business owners to buy your services” special report and giving it to anyone who buys through our affiliate link.

To get your bonus:

1. After the Product Launch Manager is launched on Friday then click on our affiliate link to buy it:

http://www.productlaunchformula.com/plmdr.php?17763

2. Email us the receipt.

3. We will verify your purchase and send you our special bonus report.

That’s all there is to it!

For now, check out Jeff’s free videos about being a product launch manager to help other business owners launch their products by clicking here.

I am personally very interested in the course because I think it would be a great service to offer to local businesses. It fits really well with our current business. If the price is reasonable then it will be hard for us not to invest in the training.

Anyway, Jeff is giving away some good free information in his videos about the course, so I recommend you click here to check it out.

Note: All the links in this post are affiliate links and I will make money if you buy something after clicking on them.

Rich Schefren, is launching a free 6 week training session called “The League of Extraordinary Minds”. The training is hosted by two of my favorite marketers Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren. For six full weeks Rich and Jay will be interviewing 54 of the greatest business minds on the planet.

Click here to check it out.

AND YES THIS IS AN AFFILIATE LINK AND YES I WILL MAKE MONEY IF YOU PURCHASE SOMETHING THROUGH THIS LINK.

So, after a series of events unfolded (which could be the focus of a later post), my wife and I decided to take the plunge and start our own business. So, I am very pleased to introduce MantyWeb Designs (www.mantywebdesigns.com), a full service web promotion and web design company. We will be specializing in helping local businesses with underperforming websites turn their websites into a valuable part of their marketing plan. I’ll be focusing on helping people increase traffic and improving conversion rates. My wife will be concentrating on sales.

While we are based in Houston, we’re available to help people all over the U.S. So, if you’re in need of assistance, contact me. You can leave all well wishes in the comment section.

Hi Dean. First, thanks for doing this interview.

Q. A lot of people when at the age you started were still in school or trying to figure out what they’re going to be when they grow up. How did someone so young become so successful so quickly?

A. That is the cool thing about the Internet, it doesn’t discriminate based on age. So anyone at any age can do it. I was around 20 before I got into it properly… I was 22 before I was making a fulltime income, so like most overnight success stories, there is a lot of effort and time that goes into them.

Q. So, for those who don’t know— what exactly IS buzz marketing? Is it just the internet marketing equivalent of being a shock jock?

A. Shock is just one small aspect of it… basically, it is doing something that gets people’s attention. The easiest way to do this is to make them feel an emotion… so, it may be inspiration, funny, shock, sadness, joy, hope etc…

I actually call it “outrageous marketing”.

I tend to use humour a lot.

When you grab attention, people talk about it, and that is when your message goes viral.

Q. Is there a limit to the boundaries you can push with buzz marketing? Is there anything you WON’T say?

A. I write as though I am my audience… if I find it funny, I publish, if I don’t find it offensive, I publish… etc…

My boundaries are more liberal than some people’s, but you can NEVER please everyone, and if you try, you will become very generic and dull.

Remember, it is better that 50% of people hate you and 50% love you, than 100% think you are ok.

Q. I recently saw a video you had published on your Facebook page where you referred to yourself as someone who has, at times, given up too early on sites? What’s one site you wish you had stuck with?

A. It is more of a case of giving up on ideas… my first ever big idea was to have a cup of coffee with 1000 strangers… I called the site “Fancy a Brew?” brew meaning tea or hot beverage in the UK.

It got a lot of attention, but I gave up after just 2 drinks… the ideas and potential excite me a LOT more than the details and the journey of actually doing it.



Q. Speaking of social networking, do you think it’s possible for business owners to have a real internet presence without it?

A. Yes, but social networking is a good option for people without a budget.

For example, if you have a team of 10 staff and a 6-figure marketing budget, do you NEED social networking? NO, but regardless, I think it helps… it is the grease that makes things happen faster.

My golden rule though, is that some people just don’t get it, or are not the right personality types to enjoy and excel in the social game… if that is you, do not fight it, focus on your strengths.

For everyone else, focus on the big 4: LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube



Q. Is there any ONE thing that everyone trying to increase the amount of money they’re generating online should be doing?

A. Testing. Success online can be summarized by the following: test things to see if they make you money, if they don’t, then tweak or stop doing them, if they do, do more of it.

Q. What is one thing you’ve had to change radically about how you view marketing over the years and what is one thing you think will always remain constant?

A. Consumers are more aware than ever before… they know about sales pages, they know about testimonials, one time offers etc… so you have to be more authentic.

The constant is that people who can get attention and stand out from the crowd will be successful. That is why buzz marketing will always be around.

Q. Tell us about your affiliation with ConstructZero (www.constructzero.org). What’s this I hear about your life being sponsored?

A. My life was sponsored by ConstructZero.org for $1 million, most of which I will be giving to charity. It means I will wear their URL and logo on an item of clothing, at events, on video, in photos etc…

It leverages my personal brand.

They are doing some really exciting and potentially world changing things at Www.ConstructZero.org, so I recommend you go check them out.

Q. What does a website have to do to earn a “doesn’t suck” button (http://deanhunt.com/your-website-sucks/) from Dean Hunt?

It has to not suck

Just email me your website url with the subject line “does my website suck?” to contact@deanhunt.com and I will let you know.

Q. One last question— if you were to give up making money online tomorrow, what would you want to do instead?

A. Great question… I would probably consult with local, offline businesses. That or I would become a rockstar (I wish).

In reality I would probably just play Xbox360 all day, and keep posting at www.buzzprofits.com and www.deanhunt.com purely for fun.

The answer to the last question made me laugh because it’s exactly what what my wife and I are doing with our new business. Anyway, I really enjoyed interviewing Dean and I recommend you go check out his blog by clicking here.

I have been on Twitter for a while now and I have yet to see how you can really make money from it even though everyone keeps talking about how great it is for business. Don’t go thinking I am some newbie that doesn’t know anything either because I definitely am not. I have been an internet marketer successfully making money online for over 6 years.

Sure, I’ve heard a few stories here and there of people who have used certain methods to make money on Twitter, but they are few and far between. And even those “success stories” are usually only small sums of money. Plus, when you consider the excessive amounts of time most people spend on Twitter to make that little bit of money, you could utilize several other marketing techniques to achieve better results in the same amount of time.

Then there’s the argument you will hear from the Twitter faithful about how great it is for traffic. Is it really? Not if you really think about it…

Say you have 1000 followers and you “tweet” your newest blog post in hopes that your followers will go check it out. Chances are most of them won’t be on Twitter at the time you tweet it so hardly any of them will see your tweet anyway. However, let’s be really conservative and say half of them are on, so 500 might see it.

Now, most of the remaining 500 are probably following hundreds, if not thousands, of other people, so your tweet will most likely be pushed down almost instantly and very few of them will see it. But let’s be really conservative again and say half of them do see your tweet. We are down to 250 now.

This could go on and on but let’s estimate highly again and say that 10% of the remaining 250 actually do click the link to go to your blog post. You just go a whopping 25 visitors! And probably none of them will actually be targeted visitors that will do anything to actually make you money once they are at your blog.

However, I am feeling generous so let’s say you have Adsense displayed on your blog and normally get a 5% click through rate. Well, 5% of 25 is 1.25 – so you would get just one click. If you’re lucky, you might make 10 cents or so. In reality you probably wouldn’t make anything though because “social traffic” rarely clicks on ads, and traffic from Twitter is considered social traffic.

So, can you make money from Twitter? I doubt it! And even if you do there’s a strong chance you could have made a lot more by using other internet marketing techniques instead.

If you don’t want to take my word for it then give it a try and see how it works for you. If you do figure out how to make money on Twitter then I would love to hear how. Just don’t waste too much of your time trying!

Let me end by stating that I am not saying you shouldn’t use Twitter. I get on there almost every day so that would be very hypocritical of me. It does have some advantages and there are several tools you can use to automate it so you don’t waste all your time there.

The point I am trying to get across is that you shouldn’t be spending too much time on Twitter because it’s really not very productive for your business. There are many other ways to make money that are much better than Twitter and several marketing methods that will bring you a lot more traffic.

By the way, since we’re on the subject of Twitter… You can follow me @trentab to get real tips on how to make money online.

Dedicated to your success,

Trent Brownrigg

Owner of the work at home blog and a 6 year internet marketing veteran.

I also suggest you sign up to be on his newsletter and check out all the videos he is releasing. It’s really good information to keep in mind when building a successful business.

Here are the steps she used:

1. Come up with a sales message.

2. Sign up for Animoto. (Sign up for their 90 day trial if you only want to make one video, but for most of us the year long membership is probably the better deal.)

3. Go buy a few pictures from istockphoto. The small size pictures are fine, so plan to spend about $1 per picture. (Animoto does offer some free pictures for your use, but we wanted to find pictures that were exactly what we wanted.)

4. Put text and pictures in order using Animoto’s easy interface.

5. Let Animoto do the work of making your video look like it was created by a Pro.

6. Remix if you want to see other possibilities.

7. Use Animoto’s easy tool to post the video to YouTube, your blog, your website— wherever you need to impress people and get their attention.

Animoto is so easy, my 10 year old son used it to make a couple of funny videos.

The first he made using pictures of our fence damage from Hurricane Ike:

In the second one he used some of the free photos from animoto:

Can you tell he has learned something about marketing already?

If you sign up for Animoto through my affiliate link, I’ll answer three questions about Animoto through email if you have any trouble with it. Frankly, I don’t think you will since it’s so easy to use.

I am not sure if we could have done it this quickly without the help of a training system that we discovered when it was first released. It is called the Local Business Money Machine and the system is absolutely amazing. The training reveals how to get ideal clients quickly, how to make winning proposals to those clients, how to run your business, and how to market your client’s local businesses on the web.

Going into the training I already knew a TON about online marketing, however there are some cool things I have learned about marketing local businesses on the Internet that I wasn’t aware of prior to the training. For me the really valuable part of the training has been the “getting clients” part of the program. The system for getting clients is well suited for my wife Jill, so she has been taking care of most of the client acquisition (sales) process, whereas I have been doing the online marketing and project management part of the business. It works great for us.

Who is this program for?

I think this program is best suited for those who have been doing some online marketing and/or have some experience getting clients but have not found that perfect system for running a successful business. People who are complete newbies (less than 6 months trying to make money online) are going to find the learning curve a bit more difficult and will need to take things slower than we are. You can still use this system if you are complete newbie, but it is going to take a lot more time than those who have some general Internet marketing knowledge. The good thing is that you can do the training at your own pace and the training is very well organized.

To see a free webinar that teaches the basics of what we are doing click here.

Today the program goes live again. I am not sure how many people they are taking this time. Last time it was 100. You can see the page to sign up for the program by clicking here.

If you do join the program using the link above, then let me know and I will keep in touch with you to help you out with the program and to potentially partner with you on some projects.

A trackback is a notification sent to a blog when one of your posts links to it. In the latest Wordpress versions, a single checkbox selection will automatically send a trackback to any blog to which you linked. These are very useful, and don’t cost you anything more than the willingness to show some link love to your fellow bloggers before you receive it.

Trackbacks appear in one of several forms on the linked blogs:

• Some blogs, like mine, have a separate trackback section before their comments. This puts your trackback ahead of the comments, making a link to your site more visible. If that blog happens to garner a lot of traffic, you could be looking at a piece of it. These types of separated trackback sections also attract link love, and I recommend you organize them on your blog this way.



• Other blogs post your trackback as a normal comment. It will appear as an excerpt of what you wrote, usually preceded and followed by an ellipsis (“...”). It appears in first come, first served order with the rest of the comments on that blog.



• It doesn’t appear, but the link garners the owner’s attention. A link will be noticed by anyone who takes any kind of care at all of their blog. That means you might just wind up on the blogroll.

Now, traffic from trackbacks isn’t automatic. Real people have to click through, which means you’ll have to get their attention with something interesting. Since most of what you leave is a title and blog name, be sure to give the post that’s linking to another site a title that will pull people in. Plus, try to send trackbacks to blogs with similar topics of discussion as yours, and the people will be pre-qualified for your content.

If you need links and traffic to your blog, add the trackback to your arsenal of techniques. It’s easy to do, helps build blogging relationships, and can accelerate the process of getting your blog off the ground.

Seriously, how do you make a beautiful, sellable ebook? Find your answers today with The Ebook Walkthrough!



My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.

Here’s the situation. Those short, one line things called titles are what your potential visitors see first. It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog post or a sales letter page, the first thing that’s going to make the first impression is the title. If that title doesn’t entice your visitor, it’s also the last thing of interest they’ll see before they leave, or never visit at all.

Not only do you need a title that will provoke interest from its viewer, but you don’t have that many words to do it. You have a second or two of reading before someone surfs off to the vast quantity of competing content available on the Internet.

In short, your titles needs some thought. You may even have to test it a time or two.

So what’s to consider when you’re trying to fill a title?

• Yes, spiders are great, but the primary target for the title is your visitor. It takes a human being to act on something they see, so don’t write titles for the spiders.



• You can find examples of titles in other places. Digg in particular is loaded with them, and you’ll find out in a hurry which ones you wish to click and which ones bore you. Find the ones you like and learn from them. The swipe file concept works just as well for title ideas you can adapt to your own purposes.



• Target titles to your desired visitors. Titles written for one specific group of people may not work for another. Furthermore, remember the marketing adage that if you advertise to everyone, you’re advertising to no one.



• Keep it as short as possible. If there’s something you want to say or provoke with a title, don’t drag it out. Fiddle with it until you use the least amount of words to get the desired effect, because the people looking at it won’t take long to make a decision about it.

Titles can make or break a visit to your site or blog. Take the trouble to get them right.

Seriously, how do you make a beautiful, sellable ebook? Find your answers today with The Ebook Walkthrough!



My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.

For those of you who are new to affiliate marketing, I thought I should give you an introduction to the basics of affiliate marketing…

“What is affiliate marketing?”

Affiliate marketing is a method for people who sell things online to share their revenue with people who are willing to promote their products for sale. Affiliates (those willing to promote other businesses products on their website) are paid based on performance measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a combination of methods.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online. In the future I intend to talk about some of the proven affiliate marketing systems that I have successfully used to make money. For starters, here’s a list of the most common used affiliate marketing methods…

What are the most common affiliate program models?

Based on a survey in 2007 by AffStat 80% of affiliate programs today use revenue sharing or cost per sale (CPS) as compensation method, 19% use cost per action (CPA) and the remaining 1% use other methods, such as cost per click (CPC) (ie. Google Adsense). I will discuss each of these methods in more details in future posts.

The main thing to remember is that affiliate marketing allows you to make money online by sending people to visit other people’s websites and buy their products/services. This means you don’t need to deal with customers, you don’t need to create products, you don’t need to store inventory, and you don’t need to ship products. All you do is refer people to the affiliate site in a buying frame of mind and the affiliate site does the rest of the work. This makes affiliate marketing a very easy business to start. No inventory, no product, no customer service, no problem!